- Philippians 1:9-11 -
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge
and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be
pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of
righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God.
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Often the best way to influence someone is to pray for him or her. Paul's prayer
for the Philippians was that they would be unified in love. Their love was to
result in greater knowledge of Christ and deeper insight (moral discernment).
Their love was not based on feelings but what Christ had done for them. As you
grow in Christ's love, your heart and mind must grow together. Is your love and
insight growing?
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August 30th - St. Fiacre of Breuil, & Kilfiachra (Ireland)
(Also known as Fiachra, Fiaker, Fiacrius, Fialer, Fevre)
Born in Ireland; died c. 670;. The Irish hermit of Kilfiachra, Saint Fiacre,
migrated to Gaul about 626 where he was given hospitality and a piece of land by
Saint Faro (f.d. October 28) at Meaux, which was part of his own patrimony.
Tradition has it that Bishop Faro offered him as much land as he could turn up
in a day, and that Fiacre, instead of using a plough, drove furrows into the
ground with the point of his staff. He cleared the land of tree and briars, made
himself a cell and garden, and built an oratory to the Blessed Virgin. Thus,
Fiacre's hermitage arose, which became the abbey of Breuil to house his many
disciples, and a hospice for travellers.
Although many sought his advice, and the poor and sick looked to him for relief,
he strictly guarded his hermitage and chapel from women. Stories are told about
the fates of those females who trespassed--even after his death. There was a
persistent tradition that Fiacre had been offered and declined the throne of
Scotia (Ireland).
He has one of the strongest cults in France, one that had already started within
his own lifetime because of his extraordinary sanctity, concern for the poor and
suffering, and remarkable cures. His chapel and shrine, eventually at Meaux,
were much visited by those seeking healings, especially those suffering from
haemorrhoids.
After the Battle of Agincourt, Henry V allowed his soldiers to pillage Fiacre's
shrine, but the cart bearing his relics could not be moved beyond the boundary
of Fiacre's monastery. It is said that Henry died of haemorrhoids on the Feast
of Saint Fiacre.
Three towns (in Brie, Plougat, and Brittany) bear his name, as do 30 churches in
France. He has another shrine in Ireland at Kilkenny, and Saint Fickers Bay near
Aberdeen, Scotland, also bears his name as does a church a few miles away. When
cabs for hire first appeared in Paris in 1620, their stand was close by the
Hotel Saint-Fiacre: from this came the French "fiacre" for a taxi. Thus, the
name of an Irish saint is perpetuated in the French language (Attwater,
Benedictines, Encyclopaedia, Montague, White).
In art, Saint Fiacre is portrayed as an abbot carrying a shovel. He might also
be shown in a Benedictine habit with a heavy staff, interceding for the sick,
with pilgrims in the background, and a basket of vegetables in the foreground
(Roeder).
He is venerated at Kilfiacha, Ireland, and Saint Fiacre at Seine-et-Marne,
France. He is the patron of cabdrivers, gardeners, florists, trellis-makers,
boxmakers, brass-beaters, coppersmiths, lead-founders, needle-makers, hosiers,
tile-makers, and potters. He is also the protector of field and garden fruits
(because of the vegetables he grew around his hermitage), and invoked against
fistula, haemorrhoids, tumours, colic, headache, sterility, and sickness
(Roeder).
Note: Some sources list St. Fiacre's Day
as September 1.)
Brief Life of the Gardener Saint by Richard Marius
http://web.archive.org/web/20040113131422/http://www.harvardmagazine.com/iss
ues/\ ja98/vita.html
A Garden Plaque, and other scraps of information on St. Fiacre:
http://saintspreserved.com/fiacre.htm
Quote:
O Sacrament off Love! O sign of Unity! O bond of Charity! He who would have Life
finds here indeed a Life to live in and a Life to live by.
-St. Augustine
Bible Quote
1. And Jesus passing by, saw a man, who was blind from his birth: 2. And his
disciples asked him: Rabbi, who hath sinned, this man, or his parents, that he
should be born blind? 3. Jesus answered: Neither hath this man sinned, nor his
parents; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4. I must
work the works of him that sent me, whilst it is day: the night cometh, when no
man can work. 5. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
(John 9:1-5)
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Canticle 1 Peter 2
Christ's passion, freely chosen
Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, to follow in his path.
He committed no sin, in his speech there was no deceit;
when they cursed him, he did not curse them;
when he suffered, he did not threaten retribution, but committed them to the one
just judge.
He endured our sins in the sufferings of his body on the tree,
so that we would die to our sins and live for righteousness -
and by his bruises you have been healed.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
.
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